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Book Selection The interactive read-aloud is an ideal instructional context for studying topics, themes, genre, text types, text features, and literary elements. As you read aloud to your students, stop and address these aspects of text. Demonstrate close reading, finding and citing textual evidence, and engaging in the deep and thoughtful analysis of text. Book club discussions reinforce what students have learned through the interactive read-aloud, deepening student knowledge as they think and talk with their peers. The learning is generative. Students learn a way of looking at and thinking about texts. They become more observant and analytical, noticing the text characteristics unique to a particular genre or the way in which authors use literary elements to craft a literary text or use text features and graphics to enhance the accessibility of technical information in informational text. In our book Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading, K–8 (2006, p. 218), we explain the advantages of interactive read- aloud and book club discussions focused on high-quality, age-appropriate books. The text is complete, the writer’s decisions are made, and all its attributes are there for discussion. Students can ‘hold the text still,’ examine it, and think about the writer’s decisions. The texts they access, the thinking and talking they do, and the close analysis in which they engage develop a repertoire of possibilities that students can use to boost their reading and writing abilities. Regardless of their current reading level, all students need to experience high-quality, age-appropriate, grade-appropriate texts. Even though some students may not be able to read on grade level, they can think on grade level—and the interactive read- alouds and book club selections in Comprehension Clubs make that possible.
37 Comprehension Clubs Grades K–5 Implementation Guide
Book Selection
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